bookswithyasmina

“A thing like this, dreaded for so long, finally arrives and among the avalanche of emotions there is a bitter and unbearable relief. It comes as a form of aggression, this relief, bringing with it strangely pugnacious thoughts. Enemies beware: the worst has happened. My father is gone. My madness will now bare itself.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief

“Another revelation: how much laughter is a part of grief. Laughter is tightly braided into our family argot, and now we laugh remembering my father, but somewhere in the background there is a haze of disbelief. The laughter trails off. The laughter becomes tears and becomes sadness and becomes rage. I am unprepared for my wretched, roaring rage. In the face of this inferno that is sorrow, I am callow and unformed.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief

“I am writing about my father in the past tense, and I cannot believe I am writing about my father in the past tense.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief

“It does not matter whether I want to be changed, because I am changed.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief